Another Beautiful Sunday In Seattle

So, two Sundays in a row now…I’ll hardly know what to do when June comes – such Sun has not been available to me for so long. Though it hasn’t quite come to this, sun deprivation has struck me so deeply that I’m liable to become one of those kooky types that shed their clothes and go dance in a field or something. (nervous giggle)

Today’s headlines were interesting….

- Worries In GOP About Disarray In McCain Camp - if the republicans truly think that McCain as any issues winning, they should take a page from their own playbook and keep their mouths shut. The article mentions McCain’s lagging effort to build a national campaign organization as well as questioning whether he’s taken full advantage over the Democratic turmoil. Both very valid concerns and the primary reason I’m so taken with the Obama campaign….mentioned in last Sunday’s post: On Obama By Obama

- The Toughest Job This Year Is Finding One: about high school kids looking for work. Good luck with that, you’ll be competing with the 100’s of 1000’s of displaced workers from the white collar layoffs of the early 90s. All these charts and graphs, almost a complete page of text dedicated to teenagers not being able to find jobs…why is no one putting these two statistics together? Why aren’t these kids as interested in joining national parks, community programs or volunteering their time to those truly in need?

Confidence and responsibility – both attributes that high school kids need to learn – do not need to be purchased with pocket money that does little more than fund unconscious purchasing. Not every high school kid needs money to go to college, to help their parents make rent, or pay the bills. Some just want the money…and for what? Why not invest a little of themselves in the bigger picture, I’m sure the rewards would far outweigh the sunk costs of a volunteer gig.

Interesting that BofA is doing another wave of layoffs… perhaps they will have luck finding summer employment. I love the reference to the “psychological terror” that has haunted the corridors of troubled financial institutions since last summer. Why haven’t people come to understand by now the clause “employee at will” is just that? The BofA article goes on about these Wall St types going to counseling, how their egos are wrapped up in their jobs, etc. I can understand what they are going through – truly, however it’s fresh for each person who experiences it themselves. Then you’re in a different club, rarely to associate with the working again until you make it back in some day. 

Help me understand how a capitalist society can yield someone who thinks like this: “Someone who shows up to work each day, that should engender some kind of loyalty.” Is he serious??? That’s socialism. A job is not a right, it’s a privilege. That’s how capitalism works. How can these people, who work at pushing money through the system and are avid consumers themselves, not understand this? Because everyone thinks they are unique. People are special, not unique. This person’s sentiment of entitlement is part of the stages of acceptance of their situation, but it’s interesting to me how the first stage always comes back to a “where’s my brothers’ keeper?” sort of feeling.  People lose their identities in their work because the cycle they are part of is eating them alive, versus contributing to a virtuous cycle.

By living in this country, we are entitled to freedoms and the pursuit of happiness – not an education, not healthcare, etc. We have the right to pursue something we may never achieve. That is so much more than most countries have to start with and it is something we really take forgranted.

It is a fact, and an unfortunate one, that there is not equal access to opportunities. There are many things that we can do to reduce the gap for folks and will probably result in another post on the topic, but for the most part, that’s life – everyone gets their bag of rocks to carry around on this journey. The rest we have to achieve on our own. That’s what the country was founded on: self reliance, vision, ability/opportunity to achieve. If you are fortunate enough to get an education (any education, it doesn’t have to be Harvard), you are able to create opportunities for yourself. Thomas Friedman said it perfectly in his last book “It used to be that a B-student from Poughkeepsie could get a job over a PhD from China” that is no longer the case. The playing fields are leveling at a faster and faster rate.

I’m reminded of a radio interview I heard on NPR some time ago, where the question was posed: why isn’t the US scoring as many gold medals as other countries? (or something to that affect) They went on to talk about all the analysis, technical advantages and facilities the Americans had over some of the disadvantaged countries competing against it. The net-net of the conversation was: the reason those countries are honing in on our victories is because they are hungry.

If people are fortunate enough to get an education, fortunate enough to land a job, you owe it to yourself and to the company to learn as many skills as possible, to stay on that horse as long as you can, and when it bucks you (bc it will) you better figure out how to consult by the age of 50. So many people get a job and get lost in the comfort of the 4 walls they were hired in. Like athletes who become used to Olympic facilities, they forget that there are Africans halfway across the globe running barefoot for their training. If you don’t stay sharp, keep your skills fresh, you will not find a place in the economic ecosystem. It sounds harsh, but the game of musical chairs is being played with less and less chairs each decade. Those who do not have a chair any longer, have to find some other way to make it work. They have to use the skills they learned from the opportunities they were given and transfer them somewhere else.

For those who have stayed too long, the market is spitting them out when they no longer fit. This is a “harsh gift” that people are given, opportunities that shake us up can bring nothing but good things. Birth is painful, and like a new college student, those recently displaced need to figure it all out again – they will be the better for it. Their eyes will have seen more, they will have felt more, and this new empathy will benefit customers, partners, family –

-Chinese are left to ask why schools crumbled: The only thought I have when I hear about an international disaster now is “why doesn’t Amazon and all the other companies that were so up front and center during the Christmas Tsunami have a permanent “donate now to [current disaster]” button on their web sites?” People want to give, to do the right thing and we make it so hard. In the end it sounds as if the Chinese aren’t as worthy as the people in Thailand were and that just isn’t true. A husband and wife that must suffer the loss of a child are the same wherever you go – loss is loss…and to donate to one over the other is a statement. Why isn’t there a more regular rhythm to people’s giving? Why is it so arbitrary? Why is the inertia of self interest so powerful? 

- Dominican Crackdown Leaves Children of Haitian  Immigrants In Legal Limbo: Many major leaguers have emerged from here that agents keep a regular eye on even the smaller children. Ángel, 17, was only a lanky grade school boy when his coach noticed he showed all the signs of becoming a standout. Before long, the San Francisco Giants came calling with a $350,000 offer. Add politics of an under-developed country into the mix and you’ve got a thwarted visa, the Giants rescinded the offer and Angel is left with the feeling that he flew too close to the sun. What sort of message are we sending? That human baseball skills are like any other natural resource, something that can be mined for. Too problematic with this one, they will move on to the next one.

So sad that someone had a glimpse of another life only to be told he can’t achieve it. I wish the Giants and other sports teams had more of a moral center, and thought longer term when making their offers. Baseball and other sports have always been about tickets and crowds – but the aura of players, teams, sportsmanship wasn’t an accident. It stemmed from the idea of thinking big, doing the impossible, being inspiring and thinking big enough to participate in the big picture, creating a greater good. The Giants had such an opportunity here to create a business with so much more mission. These one-off contracts that teams focus on now is so narrow minded…so…small.

- A Wireless World: Three years ago, aiming to create a global wireless network, Martin Varsavsky founded FON, a company based in Madrid that wants to unlock the potential power of the social Internet. FON’s gamble is that Internet users will share a portion of their wireless connection with strangers in exchange for access to wireless hotspots controlled by others.

Um, is this guy hiring?

- Indie Films…coming: essentially widening the distribution of indie films on every device. Finally, I’ve been waiting patiently – and Hollywood has run out of ideas.

Did the term “change” just get a new copyright? (c) Obama, 2007

I haven’t been this in to politics since I saw Perot show his first pie chart.

Another Patch For The Quilt…A letter to my mother about her citizenship

My Dad just told me a few weeks ago that my mother had passed her interview/exam for US citizenship. I never really considered my citizenship, as one doesn’t really give a lot of thought to what comes with birth. The distinction of country didn’t really hit me deeply until I started traveling more extensively by myself, without the bubble family vacations with parents provide.  She, who immigrated to the United States as a young woman about to be married, caused me to really look at the meaning of being a true citizen, when after living more than 35 years in the States, she decided to become a citizen.

 

Although she understands English, and lives “American” she is not what I would consider “from America” and that is a quality I’ve come to appreciate about her. When I was younger all those experiences: paper placemats at McDonalds, traveling a certain way (wipes, everything in kits, all menu and activity moments accounted for) set us apart from the more relaxed, last minute approach to getting from point A to point B. When I traveled to see family, the whole country was like that – I understood the impact of culture in more intimate way.  

 

When she mentioned to me that she was preparing for her interview, I truly wished I could have helped her study for the test. It would have given me some insight into what the experience in coming here or the “bar to belong” must look like. To review things like, “What is the first amendment?” or “Who said ‘Give me Liberty or Give me Death?’”.  She would need to learn The Pledge, which I had been reciting since kindergarten. It would have been interesting to see her as the recipient of flash cards, versus the other way around.

 

Does knowing these facts and reciting the pledge really define citizenship?  When I consider my mother, someone who has participated in every community we’ve lived in, instilled a strong desire in her children to give back and volunteer – I don’t think The Pledge quite covers it. She has never broken the law, and along with Dad, has raised two kids on an average income, paid taxes, and hasn’t taken a vacation in years.

 

She passed the exam and was sworn in as an American citizen. There must be so many emotions, so many feelings about her country, what was, experiences of the past. I hope they don’t all wash all away in the desire to become recognized here. It’s another stamp, another patch in her very multi colored quilt.

 

 

She should be so proud of this and her accomplishments as a person. America is so much about forward motion; I hope her past doesn’t get forgotten with all of this. It played such a part in our development growing up. I believe she was a citizen long before the government ever recognized her and like thousands of other unrecognized “citizens” exist working for the American way of life: the  desire to have happy kids in a happy home, making sure everyone is fed, clean, dry and reading a book. I hope she is able to vote in this upcoming election - it’s the best one we’ve had in years!

 

 

 

I wish I could have been there to see her sworn in. But, like her entry here, she was with my father – so I suppose it was a full circle moment for them both.

OK, I’m In With Both Feet This Time…

I’ve blogged on and off now for a few years…but it’s never really stuck for lack of focus. I decided I needed a mission statement and a sentence or two about what I’m going to talk about. We sometimes heep so much pressure on ourselves to be Hemmingway…so, here goes:

I currently live in Seattle, like technology, .com goings on, cool marketing, interesting small companies who maintain an emphasis on preserving their cultures, marketing to women, entrepreneurism, micro-lending, and new trend in giving that is taking over everyone’s conversations.  Throw in the complexities of working closely with other cultures, understanding and appreciating those cultures and I’m a happy girl.

Since all good things are better if you share them – I’ll post about the things I’m interested in.